This invention relates to read lock memory references.
When a computer instruction (thread) needs access to a memory location in the computer, it goes to a memory controller. A memory reference instruction may request a read lock on a particular memory location. The read lock prevents other instructions from accessing that memory location until a read unlock instruction for that memory location gets granted.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method is described of managing memory access to random access memory includes fetching a read lock memory reference request and placing the read lock memory reference request at the end of a read lock miss queue if the read lock memory reference request is requesting access to an unlocked memory location and the read lock miss queue contains at least one read lock memory reference request.
Other advantages will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.